Legend of Zelda: Nerimian Link
by Ryo-Wolf
Summary: If you don't know what this is by the title, you need to buy yourself a Nintendo.
1. Chapter 0

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, and a bunch of other people. Zelda belongs to Nintendo, Etc, etc. you know how this goes.  
  
Speech " "  
  
Thoughts : :  
  
Sounds ~ ~  
  
Signs [ ]  
  
English" "  
  
Chinese (" ")  
  
------------------------------  
  
A massive tree with bushy eyebrows and a bushy mustache sighed deeply within its forest home. It knew that the curse placed upon it would cause its own undoing soon, and he couldn't let that happen without first awakening the Hero of Hyrule.  
  
"Navi. Navi, come here a minute." The tree said, as a small fairy flew up to it.  
  
"Navi's gone. You sent her off with Link about a week ago." The small fairy said, as the tree looked confused.  
  
"Are you sure Ivan? The Hero of Hyrule as already been awakened? How could I have forgotten?" The tree asked in confusion as Ivan shifted his weight in midair.  
  
"Some awakening, the kid was killed by Queen Gohma 7 days ago. Navi's couching didn't do him much good after being split in half." The tree looked saddened as it looked at the small fairy.  
  
"This is truly terrible, with Link dead, Hyrule will surely perish." The small fairy looked down at his hand and rubbed it against his chest.  
  
"Oh well, good riddance I say." The Deku Tree glared at the small fairy.  
  
"Ivan, you know what you must do." The fairy looked at the Deku tree in horror.  
  
"Not that! Please anything but that!!" Looking at the tree again, Ivan saw he couldn't argue with him, and so with a sigh, he suddenly blinked out of existence, in search of a new Hero.  
  
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Legend of Zelda: Nerimian Link  
  
Prolog / Chapter 0  
  
Ryoga's Destiny  
  
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Ryoga Hibiki sighed as he began cooking his food. He had recently set up camp in a small forest and was cooking a small boar he had managed to catch, briefly shivering when he imagined himself in such a position before making a mental note to never eat pork again unless it was absolutely necessary. The food was soon done as Ryoga closed his eyes to eat the meat. He was absolutely starving and he wouldn't let images of a black piglet impaled on a spit stop him from eating.  
  
"God damn pushy tree and his inter dimensional travel! If he wasn't 4 billion times my size, I'd show him a thing or two!" Ryoga stood up and looked around himself in confusion before his eyes stopped on a strange glowing that was coming from the woods. The Hibiki boy took on a stance when he suddenly saw a small glowing orb with wings come flying right at him.  
  
"Hey you! Are you a hero?" The thing asked him, Ryoga looked at it stupidly in response.  
  
"What the hell are you?" he asked the thing, noticing that there was a humanoid shape in the glowing ball.  
  
"Look, just answer the damn questions when I ask them! Do you no how to fight?" Ryoga looked at the thing skeptically for a bit.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Would you consider yourself noble?"  
  
"I Guess."  
  
"If there was a damsel in distress about to be eaten by a dragon, what would you do?" Ryoga started to get suspicious of the questions, but answered anyway.  
  
"I'd save the girl, of course." Ivan thought for a couple of seconds.  
  
"I also would have accepted "Kill the dragon" or "Give him some salt and mention that the Thighs are the juiciest." But your response will do." And with that, Ivan pulled out a mallet that was far too large for a fairy of his size to wield and cracked it against Ryoga's skull as the teen was sent flying directly through a portal that suddenly opened in midair.  
  
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Ryoga hit the ground hard as he rubbed his head, wondering where the hell that damn fairy got the mallet from as he stood and wiped the dirt off his clothes, just to look at a tree with massive eyebrows, a nose, and a mustache.  
  
"That is the weirdest tree I've ever seen!" Ryoga exclaimed as Ivan flew through the portal and hovered about Ryoga.  
  
"There, I got you your damn Hero, are you happy?" The fairy said angrily as the Tree looked at the teen.  
  
"Isn't he a bit old? The hero needs to be around the age of 10." Ryoga looked shocked. Since when did trees speak?  
  
"You have your crazy magic, use it and make him younger!" Ryoga jumped at this.  
  
"Hell no! I'm not getting turned into a kid again!" but his words went unheard as he was surrounded by a wave of red light and he shrunk considerably. Luckily his clothes shrunk with him or he would have been in serious trouble.  
  
"There, you are now of the appropriate age. Young one, what is your name?" Ryoga looked up at the tree grudgingly as he realized how much shorter he was.  
  
"Ryoga Hibiki." He said with anger in his voice, directed at the living tree in front of him.  
  
"Yes, Ryoga. I, The Great Deku Tree, have been cursed. An evil man from the desert has cast this spell of death upon me. I need you to break this curse, with your courage and wisdom. Do you have the courage to do this for me?" Ryoga looked at the tree as if it were...a talking tree, actually...and scowled.  
  
"No, can I go home yet?" The Tree opened a huge door in its trunk.  
  
"Complete the quest I have given you, and I will send you home. And on this journey, Ivan shall accompany you to give you guidance." The fairy was incredibly angry at this idea.  
  
"What!? That ain't fair!!" The tree ignored him as it continued.  
  
"When Ivan is trying to get your attention, you can push the C up button to listen, be sure to pay attention to his words of wisdom." Ryoga looked even more confused.  
  
"The what?"  
  
"Just shut up and get in there, Hero boy!" Ivan punted Ryoga into the great Deku tree as he followed the new Hero of Hyrule.  
  
--------------  
  
TBC  
  
(Author's Notes)  
  
Interesting idea, don't you think? Don't worry, the chapters will be longer from this point on.  
  
Current Fan fictions with chapters being written:  
  
ArachnoRanmia Phoenix Fire Ryo-Wolf's Bad Day Rivalry Ranma ½: Another World And hopefully, Tail of the Sister  
  
Ryo-Wolf 


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, and a bunch of other people. Zelda belongs to Nintendo, Etc, etc. you know how this goes.  
  
Speech " "  
  
Thoughts : :  
  
Sounds ~ ~  
  
Text [ ]  
  
English  
  
Chinese (" ")  
  
AN: please note that this is based off of Master Quest.  
  
------------------------------  
  
"You know, this is probably the exact opposite of what I'd think the inside of a giant talking tree would look like." Looking up, Ryoga could see a massive spider web above him as he panned his vision down to see multiple platforms and bridges lying around. A pit with a web covering it was directly in front of him and he could hear a strange song playing within the room. Walking forward onto the web he felt Ivan kicking him in the back of the neck and briefly turned towards the fairy.  
  
"What do you want?"  
  
"You know, you can look below the web if you press the C up button." Ryoga stared at Ivan in confusion before looking down towards his feet, seeing a massive pool of water.  
  
"What the hell is the C up Button?" Ryoga asked as he headed over to a ladder and began to climb it.  
  
"It's one of the buttons on your controller, stupid."  
  
"Controller?" Ryoga said while in mid punch, knocking a bat out of the air. He walked across the bridge and looked at the strange pulsating red sack sitting next to a torch.  
  
"Yeah, your controller, that thing on the underside of your right wrist, and by the way, that sack over there is a Gohma Egg." Ryoga blinked, and looked at his arm. He did indeed have several buttons tattooed to the underside of his wrist.  
  
"What the hell is this thing?" Ryoga said as he grabbed the Gohma that just pounced at him by the leg and hurled it against the wall, causing it to explode in a very gooey fashion. A second one fell from the roof and was swatted away, causing it to fly across the room and fall to the lower levels.  
  
"You know, you should probably open that giant chest." Ryoga saw the chest and opened it. Music began to play as the light that shined from the bottom of the chest briefly blinded him. He noticed a map and picked it up, wondering why anyone would use such a massive chest for such a small piece of paper.  
  
[You found the Dungeon Map! Press START to get into the Subscreens and look at the Map Subscreen! Blue chambers are places you have already visited. Your current location is the flashing room. Move the Control Stick up and down to select a floor to view.]  
  
"What the hell was that?!" Ryoga screamed in confusion about the strange window that appeared in front of him.  
  
"That was just the info box, jeez, you'd think you were born yesterday. Just hit the start button and look at the map already!" Ryoga turned his wrist over and pushed the tattooed button labeled start and was shocked when time mysteriously froze and four windows suddenly surrounded him.  
  
"Ok, now this is just getting weird." Ryoga stared at the window labeled "Map" as he saw the strange blinking room shaped like a balloon on it, there was also a five boxes labeled with different floors with a picture of his face next to the one labeled 1F. Ryoga hit the start button again and watched as the windows vanished and time restarted.  
  
"Ok, judging from the map, I'd assume you go up." Ivan stated as Ryoga destroyed the box sitting next to him and squished the golden spider making the annoying noise as a token appeared and then vanished as Ryoga touched it, resulting in a victory song.  
  
[You destroyed a Gold Skulltula. You got a token proving you destroyed it!] Ryoga's eye twitched as the text box vanished.  
  
"Those things are starting to annoy me..."  
  
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Legend of Zelda: Nerimian Link  
  
Chapter 1  
  
"I'M TRAPPED IN A VDEO GAME!"  
  
------------------------------------------------  
  
After climbing the vines, killing some giant plants, picking up an oversized stick and nut causing him to witness another pair of text boxes telling him about his Select Item Subscreen, having Ivan explain the complexity of his C buttons, stepping on an oversized button that mysteriously caused all the torches in the tree to light, and getting highly annoyed at that damn beeping noise that refused to stop, Ryoga was about ready to call it quits, or strangle someone, whichever came first.  
  
"Alright I hit that giant button, now what?" Ryoga said, with barely contained rage in his voice.  
  
"Did you set the Deku sticks and Deku Nuts to a C button?" Ivan asked, as a checklist magically appeared in his hands.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Well, then go through that door over there." Ryoga walked over the wooden plank in the wall that he assumed was the door and attempted to open it.  
  
"There's no knob, how am I supposed to open this thing?" Ryoga said, highly tempted to Bakusai Tenketsu it into non-existence.  
  
"Just press the A button, stupid! How else would you open it?" Ryoga complied and watched as the door opened mysteriously.  
  
"I swear, it's like I'm trapped in a video game or something." The lost boy entered the room and watched as the door slammed shut behind him, complete with iron bars.  
  
"Hey, what's the big idea?!" Ryoga said, hitting the A button to no avail.  
  
"The room locked you in with these iron bars, you need to complete the puzzle in this room to open it." Ivan stated.  
  
"Like hell I do, BAKUSAI TENKETSU!" The door, bars and all, exploded out into the hallway.  
  
"How the hell did you do that?!" Ivan said with his jaw hanging open in horror while Ryoga walked back into the room and began disintegrating the Gohma eggs with his Shishi Hokudan. As he finished he heard a chime followed by a horrible grinding sound coming from where the door used to be, which he could only assume was the room's attempt to pull the badly mangled bars back into the wall. Looking towards one of the platforms, he saw a giant chest appear in a wave of red energy as he leapt up to it and opened it.  
  
"You know, most people would hit that button and used the raised platforms to get over here, but considering what you did to the door, I have no reason to question how you made this jump."  
  
[You found the Fairy Slingshot! On the Select Item Subscreen, you can sit it to C left, C down, or C right. Use C to take it out and hold it, and pull back the string and release it to unleash a Deku Seed.]  
  
"Oh, so that's what the whole "set to C' thing does." After Pausing and setting the slingshot to a C button, Ryoga hit the corresponding button on his wrist and felt a sudden weight in his pocket as he reached in and pulled out the slingshot.  
  
"So I have some kind of bottomless pocket that can only be accessed through these crazy buttons on my arm. Yep, I'm in a video game. So Ivan, what next?"  
  
"Well, I assume you break the web covering the door in the lower part of the tree." Briefly stopping to pick up the heart next to him and sighing in relief as the horrid beeping noise stopped, The Hibiki boy left the room and leapt to the areas below, coming to the door and ripping the web apart.  
  
"You know, you were supposed to burn that with the torch over there." Ivan stated as he sweat dropped.  
  
"It's a spider web! Why bother with the minor details." Opening the door and seeing the massive plant before him, Ryoga let his jaw fall as the thing seemed to lick its lips.  
  
"SHISHI HOKUDAN!!" That is, before Ryoga disintegrated it from the stem up, along with both Gohma eggs, the barred door on the other side of the room, the majority of the same wall, and the skulltula's in the next room.  
  
"Hey, there's another big chest in there!"  
  
-------  
  
"So now what?" Ryoga was now standing in the center of the giant web covering the floor, looking down at it.  
  
"You burn this web and climb down the hole." Ryoga nodded, hitting the correct C button and pulling out a Deku Stick from his pocket before lighting it and placing the tip against the web, causing it to burn quite quickly and Ryoga to plummet into the waters below.  
  
"I probably should have moved before doing that...Wait a second, I'm still human!!! WOO HOO!! Hey, why are my clothes Green?" Ryoga looked down at himself through his blonde bangs to see he was now wearing a green tunic. He reached behind him to find a sword and shield strapped to his back and briefly wondered what the hell happened.  
  
"Hey! How'd you turn into Link?" Ryoga climbed out of the water onto a platform with a torch, a barred door, and a button surrounded by web.  
  
"I don't know, I was supposed to turn into a pig. But hey, turning into some guy named Link is better than P-Chan!" Ryoga once again ripped open the web rather than burning it and pushed the button, hearing a chime but the bars didn't move.  
  
"Hey! That stupid door was supposed to open! BAKUSAI TENKETSU!!" Ryoga shouted, blowing the door to bits as he entered the next room and promptly threw some Deku nuts towards the wall, causing the three Gohma eggs to explode as the Mad Scrub shot a nut at him. The Lost boy grabbed the shield off of his back and held it up, expecting the Deku nut to explode against it in a bright flash of light but looked confused as it bounced off and hit the scrub right between the eyes, killing it. Once again, a chime sounded but the door with the bars did not open.  
  
"What's with the stupid doors in this place?!" Ryoga shouted in annoyance as he approached the barred door.  
  
"Look Ryoga! Torches! Light the torches and the door will open, that's always how it works!" Ivan pleaded.  
  
"Screw it, Bakusai Tenketsu!" The door exploded open as Ryoga found himself in a room with a large body of water and a strange iron bar covered with spikes in the center. Making a leap that defied gravity, Ryoga cleared the room, climbed the Song of time block, ripped a hole through the Skulltula and Bakusai Tenketsued another barred door.  
  
"Why are there so many doors covered in bars around here!?" finding himself in a room full of random monsters, Ryoga looked highly annoyed as he hit the pause button and checked his map.  
  
"So, you say the little skull is the thing I need to kill in this place, right?" Ryoga asked as he turned to Ivan, who nodded.  
  
"Well it's on Basement level two, and that room is directly under this one..." Saying this, Ryoga unpaused and backtracked a few rooms, checking the map frequently so he wouldn't get lost, until he came to the room with the large body of water. He immediately walked to the top left corner of the room and blew a hole in the ground with a Shishi Hokudan, giving him an easy entry into a room with a giant pool and three Deku Scrubs.  
  
"You know, there was a spider web you could have broken, the hole wasn't necessary..." Ryoga ignored Ivan, The Deku Scrubs, and the bars surrounding the door as he busted through it into Queen Gohma's Lair. As soon as Ryoga entered this room he was tackled to the ground by a Fairy, which is quite the feet considering the size of said fairy.  
  
"Link! OhmygodyouarealiveIcan'tbelieveithowdidyoucomebackwhat'sgoingonwhyisIvanwith youhowcouldyouabondonme!?!?!" Ryoga stared at the fairy in confusion for a couple of seconds when Ivan spoke up.  
  
"Actually Navi, this is Ryoga. He just happens to look like Link at the moment. The Deku Tree sent me and him in here after Link died to finish the job you guys screwed up." Navi glared at the other fairy before kicking him in the shins.  
  
"Shut up, Ivan! Queen Gohma surprised us!"  
  
"How could she Surprise you, It's a giant bug and you knew it was here!"  
  
"Queen Gohma pounced Link! She shouldn't be able to do that!"  
  
"Um, guys?"  
  
"Queen Gohma can't jump! You telling me link got killed cause Gohma fell off the room onto him?!"  
  
"HEY!!" Both fairies turned to Ryoga, and looked past him with their jaws hanging down. The quickly decaying corpse of Queen Gohma was lying on the ground, horribly mangled. A majority of its legs were missing and it was littered with holes that were most likely caused by Shishi Hokudans, it was covered in Shrapnel and had the Kokiri Sword stabbed into it's eyeball up to the hilt.  
  
"I killed the giant bug and got that heart thing it dropped, can we go now?" Ryoga pulled the Kokiri sword out of Queen Gohma as she burned into nothingness while Ivan and Navi began hovering over his head.  
  
"How did he do that so fast? And without us even noticing!!"  
  
"If you think that's bad, you should have seen what he did to the majority of the doors on our way here."  
  
--------  
  
"Well done, Ryoga..." The Deku Tree said as he reappeared from the blue pillar of light right in front of him.  
  
"Thou hast verily demonstrated thy courage... I knew that thou wouldst be able to carry out my wishes... Now I have yet more to tell ye, wouldst thou listen..." Ryoga stared at the tree for a second before waving his hands around.  
  
"hold on! I thought you were going to send me home now!"  
  
"This t'was merely thy first step in your mission. Wouldst thou listen to mine story?" The Tree once again asked as Ryoga sighed.  
  
"Alright, fine."  
  
"Now...listen carefully... A wicked man of the desert cast this dreadful curse upon me...This evil man ceaselessly uses his vile, sorcerous powers in his search for the Sacred Realm that is connected to Hyrule... For it is in that Sacred Realm that one will find the divine relic, the Triforce, which contains the essence of the gods... Three goddesses existed before time, Din the goddess of power, Nayru the goddess of wisdom, and Farore, the goddess of courage. These three created the world, then departed to the heavens, leaving the golden Triforce behind in the Sacred Realm. Thou must never allow the desert man in black armor to lay his hands on the sacred Triforce... Thou must never suffer that man, with his evil heart, to enter the Sacred Realm of legend... That evil man who cast the death curse upon me and sapped my power... Because of that curse, my end is nigh... Though your valiant efforts to break the curse were successful, I was doomed before you started...Yes, I will pass away soon, but do not grieve for me..."  
  
"Grieve for you my ass, if you die, who's gonna send me home!?"  
  
"Ryoga...Go now to Hyrule Castle... There, thou will surely meet the Princess of Destiny... Take this stone with you. The stone that man wanted so much, that he cursed me..." In a flash of light, a green jewel with a golden hook attached to it appeared in Ryoga's grasp as another text box appeared.  
  
[You got the Kokiri's Emerald! This is the Spiritual Stone of the Forest, now entrusted to you by the Great Deku Tree.]  
  
"I hate those boxes." Ryoga said simply as he pocketed the jewel.  
  
"The future depends upon thee, Ryoga... Thou art courageous... Navi... Ivan... Help Ryoga carry out my will..."  
  
"Wait a second Deku Tree, how did Ryoga turn into Link?!" Ivan shouted as the tree entered a coughing fit.  
  
"Only...the hero of Hyrule can complete this mission...that was link...Thus, I fused Link's body and soul to Ryoga, through the strange curse he held... Good...bye..." With that, The Deku tree withered and died, as Ryoga could only wonder if he would ever get home.  
  
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TBC  
  
(Author's Notes)  
  
As you can plainly see, this holds a lot of the game in it, so I will write it as I play. If you have any questions, comments, or complaints that you feel you have to take up with me personally, you can E-mail me at Ryowolf@hotmail.com or try my Aim name, Ryodude15.  
  
__--__Ryo-wolf--__-- 


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, and a bunch of other people. Zelda belongs to Nintendo, Etc, etc. you know how this goes.  
  
Speech " "  
  
Thoughts ' '  
  
Sounds   
  
Text [ ]  
  
English  
  
Chinese (" ")  
  
AN: please note that this is based off of Master Quest.  
  
-------------------------------------  
  
Ryoga sighed in annoyance as he watched the massive tree wither and die. Things didn't seem good for him at the moment as he sighed and headed out of the grove in deep thought. First and foremost in his mind were the strange clothes he was wearing, as well as the realization that he was now a weird blonde kid. He had to admit it was preferable to being a pig, but it still rubbed him the wrong way when he knew this body specifically belonged to someone else. After another ten minutes of walking Ryoga finally managed to get out of the grove despite the fact there was only one exit as he found himself being stopped by a weird red headed kid wearing a stupid hat. After a few seconds Ryoga realized he was wearing the same hat and immediately removed it, chucking it away in disgust.  
  
"Hey, what did you do Link?! The Great Deku Tree...did he...die?" The strange kid asked as Ryoga stared at him through uninterested eyes.  
  
"Yup, nothing more than a useless pile of wood now. The jerk kicked the bucket on me." Ryoga explained as the kid got angry, stomping the ground.  
  
"How could you do a thing like that?! It's all your fault!!" he said before angrily walking away. Ryoga watched him go with a bit of confusion before jumping across the small lake and wandering about the Kokiri village.  
  
"Alright Ryoga, The Deku tree said we have to go to the princess in Hyrule, so lets head out of the village." Ivan explained as Ryoga suddenly started walking in the exact opposite direction.  
  
"No, the exit is that way. That way! Over there stupid! Quit walking over here! Go left! Left you fool! No your other left! This is the lost woods you idiot!" Ivan said, getting highly frustrated with Ryoga as he seemed to intentionally disobey every direction Ivan pointed him in. They were soon in the lost woods standing before a tree with a metal pan hanging from one of its branches as Ivan glared at Ryoga.  
  
"You know what? I'm just going to kick you in the back of the neck until you start walking in the right direction." Ivan said with obvious anger in his voice as he started tenderizing Ryoga's jugular with his feet.  
  
"Hey! Cut that out!" Ryoga shouted in annoyance, thrusting his hand at the fairy as it darted out of the way. The lost boy quickly pulled out his slingshot and started firing at Ivan randomly, missing every time as the fairy proved to be far too agile for him. Ryoga quickly loaded three bullets and launched them at Ivan, who darted out of the way as the three projectiles impacted the metal pan in the dead center. A deku shrub suddenly jumped out of the tree and walked over to the branch, earning the attention of Ryoga, Ivan and Navi, who had been watching the other two with mild disinterest.  
  
"Cool! You're great! You scored three perfect bulls-eyes! I have to give a neat present to such a wonderful person! Please take it!" The deku shrub said energetically as he shot a bag at Ryoga. The lost boy caught it easily and suddenly another text box appeared.  
  
[You got a Deku Seeds Bullet Bag. This bag can hold up to 40 slingshot bullets.] The box said before vanishing as the bag did the same. Ryoga noticed a slight weight on his side and saw that the bullet bag was now tied to his belt and was full of seeds, probably 40 if he bothered to count them.  
  
"Yippee, now I have more ammo." Ryoga said sarcastically as he grabbed a seed and loaded it, aiming at Ivan again.  
  
"Listen! The Great Deku Tree wanted us to go to visit the princess at Hyrule Castle... Shouldn't we get going?" Navi asked, trying to break up the argument the two were in as Ivan nodded.  
  
"She's right, we should get a move on. Besides, you couldn't hit the broad side of an elephant with that OOF!" Ivan began but was cut off as a Deku Seed ricocheted off his forehead. Ryoga smirked in triumph and put the slingshot away and quickly left the woods, managing to find the exit of the village quickly as every time he started going the wrong way, Ivan would pummel his neck.  
  
"Oh, you're leaving..." Ryoga stopped in the middle of the bridge he was about to cross and looked behind him, seeing a green haired girl standing there looking a bit saddened. Ryoga nodded and walked a bit closer to the girl, trying to figure out who she was.  
  
"I knew... That you would leave the forest...someday, Link..." The girl explained as Ryoga looked a bit confused before looking down at himself.  
  
'Oh wait, blonde kid, named Link, right. I need hot water.' Ryoga thought as the girl went on.  
  
"Because you are different from me and my friends... But that's ok, because we'll be friends forever... won't we?" She asked as Ryoga looked a bit sheepish.  
  
"Of course we will!" He said, grinning like an idiot for a few seconds. The girl smiled at him and held her hands forward, revealing an odd flute in her hands.  
  
"I want you to have this Ocarina... Please take good care of it." She said as Ryoga took it, and marveled at the fact it started glowing.  
  
[You received the Fairy Ocarina! This is a memento from Saria. Set it to C and use C to start playing it! On the Select Item Subscreen, you can set it to C left, C down or C right, and then use that C to start playing it. You can play different notes with A and the four C. Press B to quit playing, or to start your song over again.] The text box that suddenly appeared before Ryoga said as he sweatdroped a little.  
  
'Whatever you say creepy floating text that won't leave me alone.' Ryoga thought as he stashed the flute in his pocket and felt it vanish with the rest of his items. He still wondered how that worked.  
  
"When you play my Ocarina, I hope you will think of me and come back to the forest to visit." Saria said as Ryoga nodded and turned around, walking off the bridge in a big hurry.  
  
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Legend of Zelda: Nerimian Link  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Hyrulian Journey  
  
------------------------------------------------  
  
Ryoga kept running straight out of the log that led him out of Kokiri village, wanting to get out of their quickly and get his journey over with.  
  
"Hoot! Hoot! Link! It appears that the time has finally come for you to start your adventure! You will encounter many hardships ahead... That is your fate. Don't feel discouraged, even during the toughest times! Go straight this way and you will see Hyrule Castle. You will meet a princess there... If you are lost and don't know which way to go, look at the Map. The areas you have explored will be shown on the Map. Press START to enter the Subscreens and L or R to find the Map. On the Map Subscreen, you will also see a flashing dot showing you which way you should go next. Did you get all that?" Ryoga looked up and saw to his absolute horror that he was currently being lectured by a giant owl. Unable to comprehend what was going on, he answered in the only intelligent manner he could.  
  
"Huh?" Ryoga said stupidly, unfortunately the Owl took this response as a 'no' and immediately started over like a broken record.  
  
"Go straight this way and you will see Hyrule Castle. You will meet a princess there... If you are lost and don't know which way to go, look at the Map. The areas you have explored will be shown on the Map. Press START to enter the Subscreens and L or R to find the Map. On the Map Subscreen, you will also see a flashing dot showing you which way you should go next. Did you get all that?" This perfect repeat of the speech was not something Ryoga was prepared for as he once again found himself staring at the owl in disbelief.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Go straight this way and you will see Hyrule Castle. You will meet a princess there... If you are lost and don't know which way to go, look at the Map. The areas you have explored will be shown on the Map. Press START to enter the Subscreens and L or R to find the Map. On the Map Subscreen, you will also see a flashing dot showing you which way you should go next. Did you get all that?" The owl once again repeated as Ryoga had the urge to mutter his confusion once more before stopping himself, realizing that any response other then yes would probably result in another repeat.  
  
"Yes, I got it." He said, happy that the owl didn't begin again.  
  
"All right then. I'll see you around! Hoot hoot hoot ho!" The owl said before flying away, leaving Ryoga looking at it fly away with a weird look on his face.  
  
"What did he say again?" Ryoga asked, turning his head a little to see the Fairy on his right.  
  
"You're hopeless..." Ivan responded.  
  
-------------------  
  
Ryoga was lost and really annoyed as he wondered across the Hyrule field, seeing that it was getting dark out and that he'd rather not walk all day and night. Thus he began setting up camp.  
  
"Where is this Hyrule Castle place anyway?" Ryoga asked as he sat down, watching the sun slowly set.  
  
"It's about a 4 days walk from Kokiri, but considering I think we're near Gerudo territory, Who knows when we'll get there." Ivan explained as he too saw the sun setting and realized they were sitting out in the open in Hyrule Field.  
  
"Uh, Ryoga? I think we should get moving..." Ivan said as the sun nearly sank beneath the mountains in the distance as Ryoga looked to the fairy. Suddenly the sun was gone and a wolf could be heard howling in the distance as 10 or so humanoid skeletons of some kind of dinosaur like creature suddenly burrowed up from the ground, surrounding Ryoga.  
  
"What the fuck?" Was his only response as the creatures suddenly attacked. Ryoga immediately got to his feet and leapt out of the circle of skeletons, pulling out his sword and shield in the process as he landed in a squat with the shield in front of him and the sword held out behind. This maneuver gave him little time as the Skeletons immediately relocated him and went on the offensive. Their clawing attacks hit only his shield as Ryoga gripped his sword and lunged forward, slashing one of the skeletons repeatedly until it crumbled to pieces in green fire before he spun around with his sword held out, slashing some of the skeletons and earning him some distance as they began attacking again. Three or four more skeletons fell as even more continuously freed themselves from the ground and assaulted him. The lost boy quickly back flipped out of the way of a trio of claw strikes before jumping forward with his sword, screaming out in effort as he cleaved a skeleton in half and spun around to kill two others.  
  
"Watch out!" Ryoga heard Navi say as he spun around and looked skyward at a skeleton that was airborne and falling at him with claw held back. As soon as Ryoga made eye contact time suddenly stood still as everything froze, the skeleton still hovering in the air with orange eyes glowing. Suddenly a text box appeared before Ryoga, though oddly enough this one read itself.  
  
["Stalchild Don't be afraid of the Stalchild! Just attack it repeatedly!"] The text box said in Navi's voice as time suddenly restarted, the text box vanishing as the Stalchild continued its forward motion only to crumble to dust and green fire as it landed on Ryoga's sword. Ryoga sighed a bit and jumped out of the way of the attacking horde as he put his sword and shield away and started gathering his chi.  
  
"SHISHI HOKUDAN!!!" He screamed, hurling his attack forward as the Stalchildren were annihilated by the blast only to be replaced by even more as they simply kept coming out of the ground.  
  
"SHISHI HOKUDAN! SHISHI HOKUDAN! SHISHI HOKUDAN! SHISHI HOKUDAN!!!!!" Ryoga kept screaming, hurling blast after blast at the constantly regenerating creatures. Finally, after all most 10 minutes of the constant attack Ryoga slumped to the ground while breathing heavily, he just couldn't keep up his attack and it wasn't doing him any good as they kept coming.  
  
"Damn you!" He shouted, pulling out his sword and shield again as the assaulting creatures redoubled their efforts and their numbers.  
  
---------------------  
  
Hours past, Ryoga wasn't sure how many exactly as he had spent the entirety of them fighting for his life against an undead horde. All he really knew was that there was no way he could keep this up much longer. He was in desperate need of sleep and it had gotten to the point he could barely hold his sword up.  
  
"Cock a doodle doo!" Ryoga suddenly heard a rooster in the distance as all the Stalchildren suddenly crumbled into nothing and stopped coming.  
  
"Yes, I win! I win!" Ryoga cried out in triumph, collapsing to his back as he tried to regain his breath and waning strength.  
  
"You know, Hyrule castle is still a couple days away and they'll just attack again at nightfall." Ivan said as Ryoga's happy mood was suddenly crushed.  
  
"Ah damn it."  
  
-------------------  
  
"Peaceful night, ain't it Bob?" A guard said as he walked up to his companion, both of which were standing on the walls of Hyrule Castle Town on patrol.  
  
"Nah, not with all those Stalchildren roaming around out there. I can hear them from here." The other guard, known as Bob, replied as he looked out at the Field.  
  
"Wait a minute, what's that?"  
  
"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" They could hear as both guards ran to the sides of the wall and looked out, seeing a young blonde boy in green clothing running for his life from a literal army of Stalchildren.  
  
"Lower the gates! We got to save him!" Bob shouted as he looked down at the boy. He had obviously seen many better days as he was cut and bleeding all over, he'd probably been battling the Stalchildren all night from the looks of his sword and shield.  
  
"We can't lower the gates! Those Stalchildren will run right in here!" The other guard said as they looked as the group rapidly approached.  
  
"Ryoga! I can see it! I can see the gate!" Ivan shouted as Ryoga kept running, not wanting to look over his shoulder as he could easily hear from the thundering ground beneath him just how many monsters were following him.  
  
"No! The drawbridge is still up!" Ivan shouted as they approached, seeing Ryoga wasn't slowing down.  
  
"I don't care!" He cried, leaping as he reached the edge of the bank and cleared the moat easily, driving his small sword deep into the wood of the draw bridge and hanging from it pitifully.  
  
"Great plan moron, what do you intend to do, hang here all night?" Ivan asked as he looked back towards the bank of the moat. There were Stalchildren as far as the eye could see and it sure wasn't a pretty sight.  
  
"No...I intend to climb!" Ryoga said to his more talkative fairy as he pulled a strip of cloth off his torn shirt and held it as it suddenly went ridged, then plunged it into the wood of the draw bridge at a slightly higher height than the Kokiri sword was as he pulled that out and stuck it in higher, doing this repeatedly until he reached the top of the drawbridge. Ryoga let out a sigh of relief as he noticed there was just enough space between the bridge and the wall for him to fall through as he rolled off the top and collided with the cold stone on the other side, almost tempted to kiss it.  
  
"Kids shouldn't be wandering around town at nighttime! Stay indoors until morning!" A nearby guard shouted at Ryoga as he nodded and got to his feet, walking into a nearby building that was filled with pots. The second he closed the door he almost immediately collapsed to the ground, getting some much needed sleep.  
  
---------------  
  
Ryoga awoke the next morning and yawned as he sat up, happy that he had finally managed to get some sleep after his 3 day trek.  
  
"Ug, what was I supposed to do again?" He muttered, getting to his feet and looking around the odd room.  
  
"We need to head to the castle and talk to the princess. We're in Hyrule so it can't be that hard to find." Ivan explained as Ryoga left the small house and ran in the opposite direction of the drawbridge, coming into a bustling market place.  
  
"Oh hey, a market. Cool." Ryoga muttered, pulling his shield off his back and looking at it idly. The mark on the front that used to identify it as a Deku Shield was all but gone, having been clawed away to nothingness the previous night. The shield had been torn apart by the Stalchildren, In fact Ryoga wouldn't be surprised if it would shatter should he drop it.  
  
"Better find a shop where I can buy a new one. I'll definitely need a shield in this place." Ryoga muttered as he wandered about the market, trying to find one that would sell him a shield. He quickly found himself in some kind of shooting gallery, and sighed in annoyance.  
  
"Great, a shooting gallery. Not what I was looking for." Ryoga muttered as he looked at it.  
  
"You're just saying that because you know you're a lousy shot." Ivan taunted, earning a growl from Ryoga.  
  
"I'll show you." Ryoga muttered, pulling out his slingshot and paying the gamekeeper twenty rupees, (something he had a surprisingly high amount of. Must have been from all the Stalchildren he killed.) Giant rupee shaped targets suddenly appeared as Ryoga shot at them, each only needing one shot as he quickly took out all 11 targets without missing once.  
  
[Your Deku Seeds Bullet Bag has become bigger! Now you can carry more bullets! This bag can hold 50 bullets!] Ryoga looked at the strange text box for a few seconds as the bag on his belt suddenly got heavier again.  
  
"You were saying?" He said as he turned to Ivan, who looked like he was sulking.  
  
"Can we just go back to finding you a new shield already?!" Ivan shouted in annoyance as Ryoga smirked and left the shop, wandering around for another ten minutes before finally finding a building that sold what he needed.  
  
"Perfect! I'll take that shield you got over there." Ryoga said to the store keeper, pointing towards the blue shield on the back shelf.  
  
"It'll be 80 rupees, kid." The giant store owner said as Ryoga grabbed the pouch that apparently held what qualified as currency and dumped the entire contents on the store counter.  
  
"Take it all, keep the change." Ryoga said as the store owner began to count.  
  
"No can do kid, this is only 79 rupees." The store owner said as Ryoga's jaw dropped. 79 rupees? He was only short one rupee?!  
  
"Come on, its one rupee! Cut me some slack." Ryoga said, trying to haggle as the store owner shook his head.  
  
"No way kid, all prices are final. Either get another rupee or get out of here." The man said as Ryoga growled.  
  
"I'll arm wrestle you for it!" He said, sticking his hand on the counter and held his hand out in arm wrestle position as the owner watched and laughed hysterically.  
  
"Yeah right kid, I'd cream you." The man said, and to anyone watch this would probably be assumed true. He was easily three times Ryoga's size. Hell, his bicep was probably the size of Ryoga's entire body.  
  
"Then you got nothing to lose. You win, you keep the 79 rupees and I walk out of here with nothing, I win and you ignore that one rupee and give me the shield. Either way you get 79 rupees." Ryoga said, leaving his arm on the table in preparation. The shop keeper shrugged and put his hand on the counter as well, grasping Ryoga's hand and most of his arm in his mammoth sized fist.  
  
"You're on kid." He said with a chuckle, squeezing a little to see if Ryoga would react. He didn't even flinch.  
  
"3, 2, 1, Go!" The second Ryoga said go it was over, as the Store owner was now on the floor with his arm firmly embedded in his own counter.  
  
"Guess I win, huh?"  
  
---------------  
  
Ryoga walked out of the store without any rupees left and now sporting a shield the size of his entire torso as he headed towards the castle, being directed by the occasional kick to the back of his neck.  
  
"Somehow I fell like I've been had. How the hell am I supposed to use a shield like this?" Ryoga muttered in annoyance as Ivan answered.  
  
"I don't know, duck?"  
  
"Not funny." Ryoga responded as he found himself walking towards the gate of Hyrule castle, only to be interrupted by the giant owl that looked like it recently had it's neck snapped, as it's head was on upside-down.  
  
"Hey! Link! Over here! The princess is inside the castle just ahead. Be careful not to get caught by the guards! Ho ho ho hoot! Well, which way are you going to go now? Ho ho ho hoot! Do you want to hear what I said again?" The owl said, turning its head back to normal as Ryoga stared at it like it was crazy.  
  
"NO!" he shouted, hoping it would go away.  
  
"Hooo. You're a smart kid. Good luck, then. Hoo hoo." It said, then flew away, much to Ryoga's relief.  
  
"Hey, your clothes! They're...different...You're not from around here, are you? Ohh... You're a fairy boy from the forest! My name is Malon! My dad owns Lon Lon Ranch! Dad went to the castle to deliver some milk, and he hasn't come back yet..." Ryoga turned his head and looked to the strange girl that was talking. She looked a little cute, for a 9 year old, but something about her rubbed Ryoga the wrong way, probably the giant elf like ears she had. Of course, Ryoga was unaware he too had these ears while in Link's body, so he was rather quick to judge.  
  
"Are you going to the castle, fairy boy? Would you mind finding my dad? He must have fallen asleep somewhere around the castle. What a thing for an adult to do! Tee hee!" She said with a laugh, completely ignoring the way Ryoga was staring at her ears as she talked.  
  
"Oh yeah, if you'll look for him, I'll give this to you. I've been incubating this egg very carefully... Tee hee!" She said and handed Ryoga an egg, just as another annoying text box appeared.  
  
[You got a Weird Egg! Feels like there's something moving inside! Set it to C and see what happens! On the select Item Subscreen, you can set it to and use it with C left, C down or C right.] The text box said before vanishing as Ryoga's eye twitched. Those boxes were really pissing him off, and if he heard about the Select Item Subscreen one more time he was going to scream. With a sigh, Ryoga hit the start button on the underside of his arm and watched the weird boxes swirl around him as time came to a sudden stop. He quickly replaced the Deku Stick with the egg and the Deku nut with the ocarina he got from Saria before unpausing and letting time begin again.  
  
"Yeah, I'm leaving now. Which way to the castle?" Ryoga asked, turning towards Ivan.  
  
"I'll kick you till you're heading the right way." He responded, and immediately began doing so.  
  
"Thanks, I appreciate it." Ryoga muttered sarcastically as he started heading in the right direction and finding himself at a gate.  
  
"Hey, guard! Open the gate, I need to see the princess." Ryoga said, turning towards the nearby guard.  
  
"So you say you want to see Princess Zelda, eh? You probably heard about her n town and decided you had to meet her... well... Go home! Get out of here! The princess would never grant an audience with the likes of you!" The guard said as Ryoga sighed and looked at the gate, which was pathetically short.  
  
"Yeah, bite me asshole." Ryoga said, easily leaping over the gate and strolling towards the castle.  
  
"Hey you! Stop!" The guard called, alerting every near by guard as Ryoga kept walking, jumping over the guards as they tried to tackle him and just kept running away from them. After a few hours of running from the guards and getting lost almost nine times he easily lost all of them and was now standing in front of the main gate, a little annoyed to see another draw bridge.  
  
"Well, its night, so it probably works like the other drawbridge, they'll open it in the morning." Ryoga said, sitting down next to a rock and waiting for the gate to open. He awoke the next morning to the sound of a chicken crowing as he noticed a chicken climbing out of his pocket, having hatched from the egg he had been given and was oddly enough, fully grown.  
  
"Weird egg is right." Ryoga muttered as he got up and was highly annoyed to see the draw bridge was still up. Suddenly the chicken made a break for it and began running around the castle, Ryoga close behind it.  
  
"Hey you stupid chicken! Get back here!" He shouted, chasing the bird around as it ran into a man sleeping near the moat and crowed loudly, waking him instantly.  
  
"What in tarnation? Can't a person get a little shuteye around here? Hello, and who might you be? I'm Talon, the owner of Lon Lon Ranch. I went to the castle to deliver some milk, but I sat down here to rest, and I guess I fell asleep..." He said as Ryoga noticed the large crates of milk nearby.  
  
"Yeah, you're daughter Malon gave me some weird egg and told me to find you..." Ryoga began to explain as Talon jumped back in shock.  
  
"What?! Malon was looking for me? I'm gonna catch it from her now! I messed up bad, leaving Malon behind to wait for me! She's really gonna let me have it!" he cried out before making a break for it. Ryoga just sighed and walked past the crates, coming to a locked door.  
  
"Hey, I found the back door. Bakusai Tenketsu." He said, watching the door explode inward violently as he walked through it and found himself in some kind of courtyard. Ryoga just shrugged and walked through it, watching guards run up to him and quickly knocking them unconscious with a jab to the backs of their heads.  
  
"You cheater. You're supposed to be avoiding the guards." Ivan grumbled, watching Ryoga jump and kick a guard in the head, hurling him into a fountain.  
  
"Meh, this is easier." He said simply, continuing to walk through the maze- like courtyard. Despite being mazelike, however, there was only one direction to go in. Thus Ryoga managed to get through it while barely getting lost. After dispatching the final guard, Ryoga easily walked into the main courtyard, seeing a young girl peering into a window and assumed she was Zelda.  
  
"Wow, she has massive elf ears too. I must be in elf land." Ryoga muttered under his breath, catching the princess's attention as she spun around in surprise.  
  
"Who?! Who are you? How did you get past the guards?" She asked as Ryoga chuckled.  
  
"Yeah, about the guards..." Ryoga began to mutter, scratching the back of his head.  
  
"Oh? What was that?" The princess asked, not quite hearing what Ryoga said.  
  
"Nothing." He answered, seeing the princess's attention suddenly changing.  
  
'Are those... faries?!" she asked, spotting Ivan and Navi floating around Ryoga's shoulders.  
  
"Then, are you... Are you from the forest? Then... Then... you wouldn't happen to have... the Spiritual Stone of the Forest, would you?! That green and shining stone...Do you have it?" She asked as Ryoga looked at her for a few seconds.  
  
"Huh? Yeah, I do." Ryoga answered, watching as she laughed a bit and smiled brightly.  
  
"Just as I thought! I had a dream...In the dream, dark storm clouds were billowing over the land of Hyrule... But suddenly, a ray of light shot out of the forest, parted the clouds and lit up the ground... The light turned into a figure holding a green and shining stone, followed by a fairy... I know this is a prophecy that someone would come from the forest... Yes, I thought you might be the one... Oh, I'm sorry! I got carried away with my story and didn't even properly introduce myself! I am Zelda, Princess of Hyrule. What is your name?" Ryoga looked at the girl as she talked before thinking for a few seconds.  
  
'Let's see, give my real name or continue the belief that I'm this dead kid named link...' Ryoga thought as the Princess looked at him.  
  
"Link...Strange...It sounds somehow...familiar." The princess said as Ryoga boggled. He didn't realize he had said anything out loud.  
  
"Ok then, Link... I'm going to tell you the secret of the Sacred Realm that has been passed down by the Royal Family of Hyrule. Please keep this a secret from everyone..." She requested as Ryoga nodded.  
  
"Sure, I won't tell anybody." He answered, waiting for her to get to the point so he could go on his way and hopefully find a way home.  
  
"The legend goes like this... When the 3 Great Goddesses left this realm, they hid the Triforce somewhere in Hyrule, in the hope that it would never fall into the hands of a wrong doer. Power grants the wish of He who holds it in his hands. If He has a righteous mind, then his wishes will ensure peace and prosperity shall adorn the land, but if He who holds it has a mind of evil, then Hyrule and the world itself shall be consumed by a seething hatred and evil. To aid the Goddesses in their hope of securing the Triforce the ancient sages constructed the Temple of Time to protect the passage which lay between the realm of Hyrule and the Sacred Realm where the Triforce lay..." Zelda explained, as Ryoga could have sworn a dream sequence began as she did so.  
  
"So this Temple of Time thing..." Ryoga began, but was cut off by Zelda.  
  
"That's right...The Temple of Time is the entrance through which you can enter the Sacred Realm from our world. But the entrance is sealed with a stone wall called the Door of Time." Zelda said as Ryoga looked at his finger.  
  
"Stone eh? I know a neat trick to bypass stone..." He muttered as Ivan kicked him in the back of the neck.  
  
"Don't even think about it. The Door of Time is a magical seal, no way that technique will even dent it." He hissed in Ryoga's ear, trying to discourage the boy's apparent obsession with blowing things up with his fingers.  
  
"In order to open the door, it is said that you need to collect three Spiritual Stones." Zelda continued, ignoring Ryoga and Ivan's conversation.  
  
"And another thing you need...is the treasure that the Royal Family keeps along with this legend...The Ocarina of Time!" Zelda exclaimed as Ryoga idly hit the C down button on the underside of his arm and looked in his pocket at the Ocarina that suddenly appeared there.  
  
'Ocarina of Time, eh? Sounds pretty stupid.' He thought to himself as Zelda continued.  
  
"I forgot to tell you...I was spying through this window just now...The other element from my dream...the dark clouds...I believe they symbolize that man in there!" Zelda said as Ryoga walked up to the window, looking through it to see a man in black with bright red hair and a strange gem in his forehead. He also had the biggest nose Ryoga had ever seen.  
  
"Can you see the man with the evil eyes? That is Ganondorf, the leader of the Gerudos. They hail from the desert far to the west. Though he swears allegiance to my father, I am sure he is not sincere. The dark clouds that covered Hyrule in my dream...They must symbolize that man!" Zelda said as Ryoga shrugged. He sure didn't seem intimidating. Suddenly Ganondorf turned his head and glared at Ryoga, and for a few seconds he could swear the man was peering into the depths of his soul. He sure had some evil eyes...  
  
"What happened? Did he see you? Don't worry. He doesn't have any idea what we're planning...yet!" Zelda said as Ryoga looked at her strangely. They were planning something?  
  
"Yes. I told my father about my dream... However, he didn't believe it was a prophecy...But, I can sense that man's evil intentions! What Ganondorf is after must be nothing less than the Triforce of the Sacred Realm. He must have come to Hyrule to obtain it! And, he wants to conquer Hyrule... no, the entire world! Link...now, we are the only ones who can protect Hyrule! Please!" Zelda pleaded, getting right in Ryoga's face with large puppy dog eyes.  
  
"Um...Ok?" He responded stupidly, not quite sure what she expected him to say.  
  
"Thank you!" She said, getting happy again as Ryoga became even more confused.  
  
"I...I am afraid... I have a feeling that man is going to destroy Hyrule. He has such terrifying power! But it's fortunate that you have come...We must not let Ganondorf get the Triforce! I will protect the Ocarina of Time with all my power! He shall not have it! You go find the other two spiritual stones! Let's get the Triforce before Ganondorf does, and then defeat him!" Zelda declared as Ryoga nodded in understanding. He had to collect two more shiny rocks, that's why the stupid tree wanted him to meet the princess.  
  
"One more thing...Take this letter...I'm sure it will be helpful to you." Zelda said, pulling out some paper and started to write.  
  
[You received Zelda's Letter! Wow! This letter has Princess Zelda's autograph! Set it to C and show it with C. On the Select Item Subscr...] The text box said, but the second Ryoga got to the mentioning of the Select Item Subscreen he immediately punched the box, putting a hole in it as he continually attacked it until it was nothing more than a pile of bluish shards on the ground, which he promptly started to stomp on. With that, Ryoga went on his way, heading out of the courtyard when he was stopped by a strange woman with white hair.  
  
"I am Impa of the Sheikahs. I am responsible for protecting Princess Zelda. Everything is exactly as the Princess foretold. You are a courageous boy... You are heading out on a big, new adventure, aren't you? My role in the Princess's dream was to teach a melody to the one from the forest. This is an ancient melody passed down by the Royal Family, I have played this song for Princess Zelda as a lullaby ever since she was a baby... There is mysterious power in these notes. Now listen carefully..." She said, before lifting her hand to her face and whistling a calming tune. Ryoga looked a bit confused before pulling out his Ocarina and held it up to his mouth.  
  
'Ok here it goes...' He said before he began to play, quite horribly.  
  
"Wait, I can do this..." He said, butchering some more notes.  
  
"No worry..." A few more off key tunes floated out of the instrument.  
  
"I know what I'm doing..." Ryoga said as he played some more. Suddenly it started to rain as he glared at the thing.  
  
"You play so horribly the sky cries." Ivan mocked as Ryoga took a few swipes at him. Impa stood and watched this with a cold look in her eyes as Ryoga got a little sheepish, at which point he noticed some labeling on the ocarina.  
  
'Oh hey, this is just like the controller on my arm...lets see." Ryoga said as he held the instrument up to his mouth. Impa began to whistle the song again as Ryoga briefly saw what looked like a dim text box flash in front of his vision, notes appearing before him as he play the corresponding ones on his ocarina and was pleased as he easily mimicked the song played by Impa.  
  
"If the castle soldiers find you, there will be trouble. Let me head you out of the castle." Impa said as she walked him out, all the way to the outside of town as the woman turned towards a mountain in the distance with a ring of smoke and ash surrounding it.  
  
"You brave lad... We must protect this beautiful land of Hyrule! Take a good look at that mountain. That is Death Mountain, home of the Gorons. They hold the Spiritual Stone of Fire. At the foot of Death Mountain you will find my village, Kakariko. That is where I was born and raised. You should talk to some of the villagers there before you go up Death Mountain. The song I just taught you has some mysterious power. Only Royal Family members are allowed to learn this song. Remember, if will help to prove your connection with the Royal Family. The princess is waiting for you to return to the castle with the stones. All right, we're counter on you!" Impa said as Ryoga continued to gaze at Death mountain. Suddenly he heard an explosion behind him similar to a Deku Nut and turned to see a flash of light and a complete lack of Impa.  
  
"She must be some kind of ninja..." Ryoga muttered, rubbing his eyes to get rid of the spots created by the flash.  
  
"Alright, I'm supposed to go to death mountain, so I'll just keep heading towards that mountain!" Ryoga said as he looked towards the mountain and began running towards it. After a few meters the mountain was briefly eclipsed by a passing cloud which made Ryoga turn sharply to the right, searching for it again as he ran around madly like a chicken with its head cut off. Soon, it was becoming dark and Ryoga had no idea where he was, except that there were horses running all around him and he could hear someone singing.  
  
"Where on earth am I now?!" he cried to the heavens as the singing suddenly stopped.  
  
"Oh, it's the fairy boy again!" Ryoga turned his head to see Malon approaching fast with a young horse following close behind her. He figured he must be in Lon Lon Ranch, but he had no idea where that was so it didn't really help him.  
  
"I heard that you found my dad! How did you like the castle? Did you see the Princess? Hee hee! Dad came home in a hurry after you found him. Hee hee!" Jeez, this chick sure did laugh a lot. It was almost annoying.  
  
"Oh yeah, I have to introduce you to my friend, fairy boy!" Ryoga really wished she'd stop calling him that...  
  
"She's this horse. Her name is Epona. Isn't she cute?" She said as Ryoga looked at the horse, who immediately ran for her life.  
  
"Yeah... Cute..." He muttered, wondering why the Horse looked like it was scared out of its mind.  
  
"Looks like this horse knows you, lost boy. Look how she runs in terror!" Ivan mocked and laughed while Ryoga decided to ignore him. Malon stopped singing and turned towards Ryoga, who seemed to be trying to punch his fairy.  
  
"My mother composed this song, isn't it nice? Let's sing together." She said, before she began to sing again. Ryoga shrugged and pulled out his Ocarina, figuring he might as well.  
  
"Oh, cute ocarina! Are you going to play this song with that ocarina?" Malon asked before she started to sing again. Ryoga suddenly saw the notes flash before his eyes as he quickly played the song. It was incredibly simple, only 10 notes in all. Suddenly the horse that had previously been running for its life wouldn't leave him alone, jabbing its head into his face and pushing him back.  
  
"Alright! Alright Epona, I get it! Leave me alone!" Ryoga shouted at the horse, running from it as it chased him all around the Ranch. Finally he dashed into a building and closed the door behind him, looking around to see Talon sitting around with a bunch of chickens.  
  
"Hey, old man. What's up with that crazy horse out there?" Ryoga asked as Talon suddenly jumped, having obviously been asleep moments before.  
  
"Huh? I'm awake already! What? Well I'll be, if it ain't the forest kid from the other day! By the way, thanks a lot for waking me up! It took some doing, but I finally got Malon back in a good mood. So, what are you up to today? Got some free time on your hands? How about a little game?" Talon asked as Ryoga shrugged.  
  
"Sure, why not?"  
  
"These three Cuccos I have here are special Super Cuccos!" Cuccos? They look like chickens to me...  
  
"I'm going to throw these Cuccos into that there gaggle of normal Cuccos. If you can pick out these three special birds from among the normal Cuccos within the time limit, I'll give you something good. If you can't find them, I win." With that, he chucked the chickens, and Ryoga caught them all before they touched the ground.  
  
"Golly! I'll be darned! It's plum incredible! You've found them all! You've got talent to be one of the world's best cowboys! How'd you like to marry Malon? Huh?" The man asked as Ryoga dropped the chickens in surprise.  
  
"What?! Marry her? She's like nine! Sure I got turned into a 10-year-old by that stupid tree but still..." Ryoga said, going into a huge tangent about it as Talon began to laugh.  
  
"Haw haw! I was just kidding! Just kidding! I think you're a little young for that, aren't you?" Talon said and then began to laugh hysterically as Ryoga just growled at him. He hadn't found it funny at all.  
  
"Oh...! I'm proud to present to you a sample of our very own Lon Lon Milk. You'll be energized the moment you drink it! After you drink it, you can bring back the bottle and buy a refill, anytime you want!" Talon said before grabbing a bottle and handing it to Ryoga, just as a text box appeared.  
  
[You got Lon Lon Milk! This milk is very nutritious! Use it with C to recover your life energy! There are two drinks per bottle. On the Sel...] Once again another text box met an untimely doom as Ryoga tore it to pieces and spit on the remains, absolutely disgusted with the things by this point. With that, Ryoga quickly left the ranch, being sure to get out before the crazy horse got to him.  
  
"Thank god I'm out of there, now I just need to head to Death Mountain..." Ryoga muttered, seeing the mountain and heading off.  
  
"I think you're forgetting something, Ryoga." Ivan said quickly, looking about almost in fear.  
  
"What's that?" Ryoga asked, not sure what it was he could of forgotten.  
  
"Night fall is in about 10 seconds..." Ivan said, just as a wolf could be heard howling in the distance and Ryoga was suddenly surrounded by an army of the undead.  
  
"Ah hell..."  
  
---------------------------  
  
To be continued...  
  
(Author's Notes)  
  
Damn there are a lot of things you need to do in between Deku Tree and Dodango's Cavern. I was going to put all of the in between in this chapter and start up chapter 3 with Dodango's Cavern, but since I'm at 17 pages and still need to go talk to the Gorons and go back to Saria, get the Goron's Bracelet etc, etc... I figured I'd just split it up in two chapters instead. So, next chapter expect everything from Kakariko village up to the Goron's bracelet, then it's on to the next dungeon!  
  
--Ryo-Wolf---- 


End file.
